With all the madness inherent in the ongoing primary season, some states have more straightfoward primaries than others.

Blanket primary: A primary in which all candidates from both parties are included on the same ballot. This is different from single party primaries when Democratic and Republican nominees use separate ballots.

Real life example in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

State’s ‘Top Two’ primary upheld by U.S. justices

By ANGELA GALLOWAY
P-I REPORTER

Washington voters might again enjoy free-for-all primary election ballots, thanks to a Supreme Court decision that struck a blow to political parties’ long-running battle to control the rules of such elections.

The high court voted 7-2 Tuesday to uphold the state’s “Top Two” primary, which allows voters to select freely among political parties for various contests without pledging even temporary allegiance to a party.

While the political parties said their legal battle is far from over, Secretary of State Sam Reed said Washington will use the “Top Two” system for the first time in August.

“This is a great day for the voters of Washington state,” Reed said. “We’ve had a history in our state of people believing that they have the right to control the election process that selects their public officials.”

Still, the political parties might renew their legal challenge before voters cast a single such ballot, party officials said.

“The story is not over yet,” said Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser. “This is just the end of Chapter 1.”

David McDonald, attorney for state Democrats, said the ruling was “narrow” and the underlying lawsuit is still in play. “They haven’t necessarily validated the (open primary) statute in all circumstances,” McDonald said.

Under a “Top Two” system, whichever two candidates get the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation or the preference of the state party organizations. Handily approved by voters in 2004, the system has never been tried here because of the parties’ lawsuit.

Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said overturning voters’ decision now would have been an “extraordinary and precipitous nullification of the will of the people.”

It was the second time the state’s major political parties sued to block Washington’s popular, populist primary election tradition.

The “Top Two” plan was meant to replace Washington’s previous “blanket primary,” one of the nation’s oldest systems to allow voters to split their tickets. That system was tossed out by federal courts after the major parties sued, asserting a First Amendment right to select their own nominees without outside interference.

Seeking to similarly block the “Top Two” system, the parties said it was their prerogative to choose who represents their organizations in general elections, which is achieved in many states by allowing only registered party members to cast primary ballots.

By contrast, the “Top Two” rules allow candidates to self-identify party affiliations on ballots. In other words, they may describe themselves as Democrats or Republicans, even if they were not the chosen nominee of the party organizations.